Trafficking in Persons

Short Description

Policy

BACKGROUND:

Under federal law, the technical term for modern-day slavery or coerced labor is "severe forms of trafficking in persons". "Severe forms of trafficking in persons" is defined as:

Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18; or

the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion, for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Traffickers often prey on individuals who are poor, underemployed, and without safety nets. Victims, primarily women and children, are often lured with false promises of a better life and then forced to work under brutal and inhuman conditions. Determining whether or not an incident is trafficking requires looking into the type of work a victim is made to do and on the force, fraud or coercion involved. There is one exception. Trafficking covers the use of minors for commercial sexual activity even if there is no force, fraud, or coercion. Trafficking includes people held against their will to pay off a debt. A victim's initial agreement to travel or perform the labor does not allow an employer to later restrict that person's freedom or to use force or threats to obtain repayment.

To report trafficking call 1-888-428-7581

POLICY:

Any person who is a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons in Alaska will be considered for crime victim compensation under AS 18.67 according to the same guidelines as any other violent crime victim.